Pistol Annies Album Debuts at Number One

It doesn't take a lot of intellectual gymnastics to figure this one out; three talented and lovely ladies (including one who is tearing up the charts with every single she releases) got together and put out an album that is taking the country by storm. Pistol Annies "Hell on Heels" is a strong number one.

The impressive first week sales for the album are what's driving this. "Hell On Heels" debuts at Number One on Billboard's Country Album Chart with first-week sales of more than 44,000 copies. Hell On Heels also lands at Number Five on the all-genre Billboard 200 Chart.

The group is composed of Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe. The ladies are quoted as saying,

Miranda: "I can not believe how much the fans have embraced us. We are so thrilled and even more inspired than ever. Thank you so much to our country fans. Pistol Annies are here to stay!"

Ashley: "I am completely overwhelmed and humbled by the response of our wonderful fans. I couldn't be more encouraged that country music is being embraced so completely."

Angaleena added: "Pistol Annies has been an organic, artistically driven project from the beginning and we are so proud that our couch dream has become critically and commercially successful. We are just three country girls singing about the truth and we are overjoyed by how well our album has been received."

Miranda, Ashley and Angaleena wrote every song on the Hell On Heels album. Blake Shelton got a co-write on one song, called "Family Feud."

The nice thing about the album is that it has serious talent behind it. It's garnering critical praise from an array of media including The Associated Press who writes that “as much fun as they're having, the Pistol Annies address working-class issues in language as real and as colorful as their country music heroes, whatever the gender. This trio aims at a lofty target yet hits the bull's-eye, song after song.”

The New York Times was also quite generous with their praise, and the Washington Post declares, “’Hell on Heels’ is a laugh-to-keep-from-crying-your-blue-eyes-bloodshot kind of album,” and that “it might stand as the best country release of 2011.”

It's not really hard to understand the number one ranking of the disc. Now, all this talented trio has to do is live up to the early press. Consistently.